A small, bounded Markdown file that gives coding agents reliable task continuity without introducing another service, database, or vendor-specific memory layer.
The pattern uses two files:
.ai_scratchpad.mdholds short-lived state for one active task.AGENTS.mdtells coding agents when and how to maintain it.
The scratchpad records only what another agent—or the same agent after a context reset—needs to continue the next few actions safely. It is deliberately temporary, human-readable, and subordinate to the code, current user instructions, and permanent project documentation.